1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for recovering a carboxylic acid made by the biological oxidation of a substrate by a microorganism from a fermentation broth.
2. Statement of the Related Art
Standard methods for recovering carboxylic acids in general and polycarboxylic acids in particular from fermentation broths are based on the physical separation of the spent microorganism cells from the aqueous phase such as by centrifugation followed by precipitation of the carboxylic acid as a result of pH reduction of the aqueous phase. This method is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons, the most notable of which include the problem of physically separating the spent cells and then acidifying the cell-free broth to effect the precipitation of the carboxylic acid. The precipitation of the carboxylic acid is time consuming and the separation and isolation of the precipitated carboxylic acid is not always clean.